


THE ANIMALS ONLY ARMIN KNOWS

by Micky_bay



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, animal comparisons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-29 11:31:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3894748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Micky_bay/pseuds/Micky_bay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Armin talks about things that no one, not even Eren understands. But for some reason, Jean finds these times incredibly adorable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	THE ANIMALS ONLY ARMIN KNOWS

~The kangaroo.~

Because of the terrible weather, most of the 104th was indoors for afternoon training. Everyone was in their respective group lifting weights or doing push-ups. Eren was on the lift bench trying show up Jean who was doing sit ups near by. Armin, who was supposed to be spotting Eren was distracted by Connie and Sasha who had somehow managed to strap themselves to exercise balls and we bouncing around the room.

"Hey Armin, how many is that?" Eren asked rather loudly in hopes of ticking off Jean.

"Umm 15 I think." The blond said sheepishly.

"Armin!"

"Sorry Eren I got distracted."

Eren sat up, wiped the sweat from his brow, and looked over to his sister Mikasa who was on another lift bench being spotted by her bunk mate Annie.

"Hey 'Kasa, did you count how many I did? Armin lost count."

Mikasa whispered "35" and put her weights back on the bar. "You did 12 Eren."

A snicker from the other side of him caught his attention. With his temper flaring, Eren turned to face the source of the sound. "You got something to say you fucking horse radish?"

"Fuck off Eren. I was talking to Marco." Jean retorted rather sharply. As they fell into their usual spat, Armin went and grabbed himself some water. Along the way he narrowly avoided the bouncing duo that had his attention earlier.

"Hey Ar," Connie said getting off the ball. "Wanna give it a try?" The boy asked offering over the toy.

"No thank you." He declined sipping his water. The shorter boy shrugged and got himself a drink. Meanwhile Armin went out to the porch of the training cabin and sat on one of the dry steps. While watching the rain pelt the ground, he began to let his mind wander to what he had been thinking about before.

"You ok there Armin?" A voice called pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, Jean." The blond smiled up to the taller friend. "I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Oh?" Jean said arching a brow. "About?"

"Just some animals I read about." Armin said finally. "Have you ever heard about kangaroos?"

Jean looked away thinking. "Can't say I have. What is it?" Armin wasn't sure how to explain it seeing as he had never seen one before but the book he had been reading gave a good description.

"Well, a book I was reading says that they were a type of animal that would bounce from place to place on its hind legs." Armin began. "From what I understand, the way they use their hind legs were like frogs but then at their feet were pretty long, but their faces were said to look like mice..."

Armin continued his description and Jean tried the best he could to piece together the picture Armin was trying to give him but as far as he was concerned this creature sounded terrifying. Armin kept chittering on about how they were marsupials which meant they carried their young in pouches on their stomachs. Again, completely terrifying.

In reality Jean only endured the haunting mental images because the light in the small blond boy's eyes seemed to make even the rain that was pouring down seem like a light drizzle. So he's a bit (lot) of a romantic. Sue him.

After exhausting his limited knowledge of the strange beast, Armin fell silent.

"So what made you think about that thing anyway?" Jean asked hoping to get him talking again.

"Well when I saw Connie and Sasha bouncing around it made me think of how my book said they jumped." Armin shrugged. It's always been like that. Little things that trigger his imagination and remind him why he wants to go outside the walls anyway. He sighed and looked out towards the parting clouds.

"Don't worry," Jean found himself saying. "One day you'll see a kangaroo." He lightly ruffled Armin's hair just as an excuse to touch him. Blue eyes met his amber ones and he couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks Jean. I really hope I do. Now let's get back inside before Shadis catches us out here."

"Good idea."

 

~The killer whale.~

The scouting legion found themselves on another expedition. They managed to make it to the site of the logistics base without losing too many people. Unfortunately for Levi's squad, there was to be no resting until the old building shined like a newly minted penny.

"Kirschtein, Arlert." Levi called out of a window. "Seeing as your tall friend can't see past his own nose, you two are in charge of drawing water from the creek."  
The youngsters looked up at him confused. Levi sighed and rolled his eyes. "Hoover tripped and hurt himself and a few others. Until I can spare more people you both are in charge of getting water. Now get to it."

With a quick salute both boys were off. Now Jean wasn't too mad because it meant he could be with Armin but he did have a reputation of 'angry slacker teen' to keep up. "Why do we have to pick up the slack just because Bert's got two left feet." He grumbled as they started down a path that lead away from the camp.

"Jean," Armin chided. "Be nice. I mean, at least we get away from the camp for awhile." Was Armin trying to flirt? Of course not ;)

Both walked in silence until they reached the small creek Levi ordered them to get water from. After a moment of thought, Jean removed his boots and began rolling up his pants.

"What are you doing?" Armin asked unsure.

"It's hot." He replied plainly. "Why don't we just hang out for a bit?" Armin looked at him with slight frustration. "We can tell Heichou that we got a little lost. It should buy us 30 minutes to an hour."

Armin's cheeks puffed out in thought. It was hot. They were tired. It couldn't hurt. Could it? "Only 30 minutes Jean. I don't want to get into too much trouble." He plopped himself down near the water's edge and Jean began wading around looking for anything interesting. Armin meanwhile laid back and basked in the sun.

"Hey Armin." Jean called out after sometime. "Do you have any new animal comparisons for me?"

The blond laughed and sat up. "Is that what you call them?"

"You got a better name for 'em?" Jean teased back.

"Not at the moment." He smiled.

Jean paused long enough for him to get caught staring. He fumbled for a moment before turning back to the water. "So what animal from the outside do you see Bert as?"

Armin laid back and closed his eyes to think. He looked through his mental archives and chose whales. He informed Jean of the decision. "What's a whale?" Jean expectantly shot back.

"Well there are sort of like fish. They live in the ocean and there are different types of whales. But what they have in common is the fact they're said to be pretty shy like Bert is, but after awhile they warm up and become super playful."

Jean tried to imagine Bert submerged in water. 'He'd probably look like a wet cat.' He thought to himself. "So what do these whales look like?"

"The one I think Bert would be most like is called an orca, or maybe even a blue whale."

"Is that one animal or two?"

"Two. The book said that blue whales are super shy and would swim away from people. Same way Bert tends to run off if you try to have a direct conversation with him..."

Jean plopped himself down near Armin and hung on the sound of his voice. It was smooth and calming. He craned his neck to look up and watch as Armin's lips formed new words at high speed. Jean bit down on his own lip in an effort to suppress the urge to press them to the blond's.

"But the orca is more of Bert in the middle of battle." Armin continued seemingly oblivious to his companion's stare. "He gets this commanding air about him and he's almost a different person."

Blue eyes found their way to Amber ones looking intently up at him. Armin's heart fluttered at the heavy look he was getting from Jean. Would it be too brash to try and find out what his lips taste like?

Before anything could happen, there was a rustling from the bushes and out stepped Mikasa and Marco looking slightly worried.

"Is everything ok over here?" Mikasa asked suspiciously eyeing the pair on the ground.

"Jean you weren't trying to slack off again were you?" Marco teased helping his bunkmate up.

"Screw you Bodt." Jean half joked. "Armin was telling me a story and it was just getting good."

"Well you can finish story time later." Mikasa said dusting off Armin's back all motherly like. "Levi is starting to look for you."

"Shit."

 

~The horse~

Where was he?

30 minutes ago Armin saw Jean riding next to him as the titans began to appear. Now there was no sign of the copper blond horse nor its rider.

Armin went up to a higher vantage point and looked down at the chaos in front of him.

"Ok Arlert, think." He mumbled to himself. "Titans converge on prey." He looked at the different groups. Even though titans were falling fast, he knew his comrades were falling faster.

"Where the hell are you Jean?" Armin asked the air around him. He thought hard trying to remember which way he went after they separated.

'I'll try to get around them.' He had said. Armin surveyed the area. He looked for the path Jean would have taken. That was when he saw a uniquely colored horse running from what looked to be a gorge.

"No, no, no, no."

Armin dug his heels into his steed and met the other beast part way. "Rachel steady." He called out reaching for her reigns. "Steady." He managed to get both horses away from much of the fighting and dismounted. After tying the two sets of reigns together, he went back towards the gorge on foot.

'Please let him be alive.'

"Jean!" He called into the opening. "Jean can you hear me?! Where are you?"

***

How could he have been so stupid?

What made him think that the Titan wouldn't follow him?

Why did he think he could make that jump?

Jean tried to move his right leg but there was nothing but a dull burning sensation.

"So this is it Kirschtein." He said to himself. "This is how you're gonna go out. Alone. Just like..."

He let himself cry. Not like anyone was here to judge him anyhow.

"Jean!"

The sound was faint.

"Jean can you hear me?" It came again. "Where are you?"

'I'm here.' He thought.

Jean opened his eyes and felt his head swim. "Here." He managed out just above a whisper. "'M over here."

***

Armin called out again and again but after hearing no response jumped into the opening himself. "Jean please! Answer me!" That was when he saw it. 20 yards in front of him were two legs sticking out of a small alcove. "Jean?" He called out hoping for an answer.

'God don't let him be dead.' He prayed as he inched closer. The more Armin saw of the body the more certain he became that it was Jean. Dropping to his knees he felt for a pulse. Once he felt the fluttering beneath his fingertips he relaxed some.

"Jean." He began. "Jean can you hear me?" Jean slowly opened his eyes and saw Armin smiling at him. "Oh thank god." He laughed despite the current situation.

Jean smiled weakly and closed his eyes once more. Armin was with him. He wasn't going to be alone.

"No, no, no." Armin began to panic again. "Stay with me Jean." He pleaded with the taller boy. "Stay with me. Hey, I got another animal for you."

Amber eyes forced open heavy eyelids. 'You do?' The look communicated.

"If we make it through this I'll tell you. Deal?" The blond offered up his hand. With what little energy he had left, Jean took it.

***

Three days later a certain Jean Kirschtein was sitting in an infirmary room with a fairly peculiar Armin Arlert who was reading an even more peculiar book.

"Hey Armin," Jean began gently moved some of the blond's hair out of his downturned face. "When you found me you said something about having another animal to tell me about."

"I did." He confirmed marking his place and closing his book.

"Well? What is it?" Jean asked almost childishly.

A sly smile spread across Armin's lips as he moved a safe distance away. "I was going to compare you to a horse."

"Are you shitting me?" Came the expected response.

"Do you want to know why?" Armin asked turning to face his aggravated friend. "It's not for the reasons you think!"

"Oh really?"

"I think you're like a horse in the simple fact that you are stubborn, hardworking, and loyal." Armin sat in the edge of the bed and took Jean's hand in his. "And you always manage to come back."

Jean tried to be mad. He really did. But the blue eyes that looked into his reduced his rage to dust. Not being able to take much more of the emotion behind those blue orbs, Jean looked down to their joined hands.

"Are you mad?" Armin asked, voice soft and unsure.

"No." Jean said simply. "I mean it's better than Jaeger's reason for me being a horse."

Smiling brighter, Armin leaned in and pressed a peck to Jean's cheek. "I'm glad. And since we're on the topic, wanna know what I think Eren is?"

Jean looked at the ball of excitement sitting in front of him. "Sure."

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank Cherry-bubblegum for making the art pieces that go to this story. It was so mush fun working with her.
> 
> her tumblr is here: http://cherry-bubblegum.tumblr.com  
> (lmao idk how to link)


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